6 last-minute tips for organizing your virtual office holiday party, from professional event planners

• As offices around the world remain closed this winter due to the pandemic, many end-of-year and holiday parties are being planned virtually.
• Professional event planners say it's important to ask and learn how your employees want to celebrate this year — or if they want to have a party at all.
• Timing is also important — a party during the day can increase turnout and keep people from feeling like they need to stay after work.
• Planning an experience-based event, like a bake-off, cook-along, or gingerbread house-making competition, can also help employees feel more connected and engaged.

As the pandemic looms on and the year comes to a close, there's one annual tradition that's usually a pick-me-up for employees this time of year: the office holiday party. And although Zoom parties have already started (and ended!), many managers may still be on the fence about how to host an annual celebration.

Business Insider spoke to several party planning pros to help ease your virtual party-planning woes. This is what they recommended.

Know what your employees want (and give it to them)

All the experts we spoke to agreed that this element is crucial for an event that will go over well.

Since most people are working more now that they're working remotely, take their schedules, family obligations, and moods. What time do your employees want to have a virtual end-of-year party? Do they want to have one? Would they prefer to skip it altogether and maybe receive a gift basket instead? Send out a quick poll to see how everyone's feeling, and go from there.

"The invitation for a party always sets the mood," said Brian Worley, creative director and owner of Atlanta-based B. Worley Productions. "The invitation, even if by email, sparks interest - and these days, it is just fun to get invited to anything, so do it well."

Prior to working in Atlanta, Worley spent 22 years in LA, where his clients were creatives and celebrities in film and TV. In Atlanta, said Worley, he's fortunate to have mostly corporate and wedding clients that have worked out well for him: "We have been able to do a few in-person events," he said, in reference to the pandemic, adding, "they were just smaller guest counts, masks, plastic walls dividing staff and lots of hand sanitizer."

Timing is everything

"Zoom is consuming people all day long," said Angela Knox director and cofounder of Keep Fit Eat Fit, a global digital employee well-being program headquartered in Chelmsford, the UK, that focuses on the health and well-being of remote workers, staffing everyone from nutritionists and personal trainers to sleep consultants.

"Everyone's got Zoom fatigue," said Knox, "so maybe [an event] in the day is a good policy - everyone's at home for Zoom [calls] during the day as it is."

Some companies are choosing to leave their holiday celebrations until January and beyond, Knox said, so if employees aren't hung up on an end-of-year event, that's always an option.

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Alternatively, said luxury event planner Rohita Pabla, you might want to aim for a get-together later in the day, so people don't feel like they're attending a virtual event instead of doing household chores.

London-based Pabla plans her events with clients one-on-one and believes personalized touches matter now, more than ever.

"If people have children or [other] responsibilities, then they can have dinner with their partner, put the children to bed, then they can kind of just relax," said Pabla.

Use technology to its advantage

"I wouldn't try to recreate everything about a live event - work with what virtual [events] can offer," said Liz Taylor of events planner Taylor Lynn based in Manchester, UK, whose clients have included businesses such as Mercedes Benz and Thomas Cook Airlines. "It seems to be far more of a way of visually connecting, as opposed to emotionally connecting. So visual activities are the key." These can include everything from games to panic rooms made virtual.

Additionally, Pabla said that if you've got big teams who don't usually get to socialize, it's worthwhile remembering that you can have people mingling across their work groups or cliques: "With Google meet, and Zoom, for instance," said Pabla, "they have the functionality to have breakout rooms."

Experiences work (and take the edge off)

Alternatively, experiences like a bake-off, a cook-along, or a gingerbread house-making competition (where you've already sent over the supplies beforehand) can take the pressure off.

"It's important to have something that everybody [can] contribute to," said Celia Brooks, a London-based American author and TV chef who pivoted her food tour business to online-only when the pandemic hit.

"Some people are shy, some people are more outspoken, some people dominate the conversation," said Brooks, so finding common ground for your employees is everything.

Send over a gift basket (or donate to a charity of the team's choice)

Gift baskets are always an option if you're looking to show employees your appreciation (and still cheaper than renting a venue) without hosting a virtual party.

The most important thing, said Damilola Onamusi, managing director of a boutique agency, D.A.S.H Events, is not to force it. Prior to starting her agency, Onamusi ran events across the globe from Doha, Dubai and Singapore to Paris and London.

"Gauge the mood of your teams," said Onamusi, "and if the mood is lethargic or just not as enthusiastic, don't bother having a virtual Christmas party. Use the money you would have spent to give everyone an end of year bonus or donate the money to a charity which the team has selected."

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We'll always have next year

Zoom parties might not be your cup of tea, but there are a few (minor) advantages to them: You don't have to worry about piling that coworker who's had a few extra glasses of wine into a taxi once the party's over, nor do you have to look for an excuse to escape once it's started to lull. So whether you choose to have a party or send employees a gift card instead, it's the thought that counts more than anything else.